Bow River Loop at Lake Louise is now trackset. Photo from Jan 15, 2018
Nov 24, 2019
The Banff trail report indicates 10 cm of new snow at Lake Louise. I am assuming that’s from last night. The web cams show fresh snow at Lake Louise and Castle Junction. The AMA Road Report shows the highway from Canmore to Lake Louise is snow covered.
The Banff trail report also shows the Bow River Loop at Lake Louise is now trackset. It’s a beautiful trail with pleasant, easy skiing where you can take your dog along. You can add to the fun by skiing the Campground Loop when you come to it.
Hopefully Castle Lookout to Baker Creek will see some grooming soon. Maybe even Redearth Creek. From Voting Rights Bill’s trip report, it sounds like Redearth Creek is already skiable after the first kilometre, although not yet groomed.
The coming week shows lots of snow in all the forecasts. It appears we’ll have enough snow to refresh the trails at West Bragg Creek once again. The Sandy McNabb forecast: 23 cm! Lesser amounts of snow are predicted for higher elevations(PLPP, Lake Louise) but still substantial.
You can see which trails are being groomed at the Canmore Nordic Centre(CNC) from their Live Grooming Report. Basically it’s Frozen Thunder plus some of the competition trails.
The CNC’s trail report states: “Frozen Thunder, Biathlon Stadium, Penalty Loop (lesson grid), Cross Country Stadium (area closest to the Daylodge). Current snowmaking priorities are XC Stadium and XC competition trails.”
Yoho and Emerald Lake
If you enjoy skiing at Emerald Lake and Yoho, consider a $50 membership which goes towards grooming the trails.
The following update was provided by the Kicking Horse Ski Club:
A short update….2 bridges got put in by our track setter Joe yesterday—Emerald River and Kicking Horse Flats. It is now colder out and maybe our snow will start accumulating.
Meanwhile…walking around Emerald is easy & very well packed. The lake is freezing up—but beware…not safe!
Joe will bring out all the track setting equipment in the next few days and hopefully take the sled out for a run—to cut a few trees down at the same time.
The Heritage Guides at Lake Louise are responsible for grooming the trails around the Chateau and have released their first update of the season…
Fairview Loop (#2): Skier set, poor condition. Lots of lurking rocks and stumps to hit, watch for open drainage’s and heavily treed areas have just 1cm or 2cm on the ground. We will need at least 15cm of more snow to really start working on this trail. Use caution!
Shoreline (#4): Sled packed, poor condition. Lots of work has been completed on this trail, but just driving the snowmobile over it exposed rocks along its entirety. Use caution!
Lake Trail (#4): The lake ice is about 20cm thick around the skating rink area, but further travel towards the glaciers and the ice starts to thin quite quickly. At the south end (glacier side) of the lake there is still open water where the trail meets the shore, until this freezes better we will not be recommending travel nor working on it with our sled.
Upper Telemark and Peyto Trails (#5): Skier set, poor condition. Lots of lurking rocks and stumps to hit and under large trees there is just 1cm or 2cm of snow. We will need at least 15cm of more snow to really start working on this trail. Use caution!
Teaching Grid: Poor condition.
